Europe

ACCEPTANCE & PROCESSING

xpate has introduced ScheduleFX, a feature it says will help businesses manage currency exchange in a more planned, automated way. The launch targets merchants and platforms that accept payments in multiple currencies but face friction moving funds between accounts, managing conversion timing and reconciling settlement. By enabling scheduled currency exchange management, xpate is aiming to give finance teams more predictability over conversion execution and cashflow, rather than relying on ad‑hoc manual processes. For acceptance leaders, the “so what” is margin protection: better FX control can reduce leakage on cross‑border card sales and marketplace settlement flows, and improve pricing confidence when expanding into new geographies. The competitive test will be whether ScheduleFX integrates cleanly with PSP settlement files, reconciliation workflows and treasury tooling without creating operational overhead.

Solidgate has marked nine years of growth by doubling down on payment orchestration as a core “control layer” for global merchants, positioning its platform around adaptable routing, risk and operational tooling rather than single-PSP dependency. The Cyprus-based company said its focus is to give merchants the ability to “orchestrate payments with precision”, explicitly calling out capabilities spanning routing and risk management through to treasury and analytics. For acceptance leaders, the subtext is clear: orchestration is being productised as an operating system for multi-acquirer, multi-market commerce—especially where performance, resilience and payment-cost visibility need to be tuned continuously as markets (and fraud patterns) shift.

BNPL

ViaBill has extended its Pay Later offering in Denmark by enabling eligible customers to use ViaBill’s Mastercard with Apple Pay and choose instalment plans at checkout. ViaBill said the capability works online, in‑app and in store, allowing customers to split purchases into monthly payments via Apple Pay on iPhone/iPad and, in physical retail, via iPhone. Operationally, users add their ViaBill Mastercard to Apple Wallet and select Pay Later during Apple Pay checkout to view available instalment options before completing payment. For merchants, the integration is significant because it places instalments inside a mainstream wallet flow, reducing friction versus redirect‑based BNPL and potentially improving conversion on mobile. The merchant-side question is economics: whether uplift in approval and basket size offsets BNPL fees and any incremental dispute exposure linked to instalment-based purchasing.

CRYPTOASSETS/BLOCKCHAIN/DLT

Visa has launched a Stablecoins Advisory Practice within Visa Consulting & Analytics, positioning it as a partner for banks, fintechs and merchants exploring stablecoin-based settlement and programmable payment models. The new practice is designed to help clients identify viable use cases (such as cross‑border payouts, treasury operations and merchant settlement), assess operational and regulatory readiness, and design pilots with suitable blockchain rails and ecosystem partners. Visa’s move signals stablecoins are shifting from “proof of concept” to roadmap item for mainstream acceptance, with advisory focusing on compliance, risk controls and integration patterns. For acquirers and PSPs, the key acceptance question is whether stablecoin acceptance can reduce FX and settlement friction without importing new operational burdens—particularly around AML controls, refunds, consumer protection expectations and dispute handling that merchants are accustomed to in card acceptance.

Volt has partnered with BVNK to let merchants accept stablecoins at checkout while keeping the payment flow familiar. Volt said the collaboration combines its account-to-account payment capabilities with BVNK’s stablecoin infrastructure, enabling merchants to offer stablecoin payments alongside traditional methods and to settle proceeds in a way that fits treasury preferences (for example, conversion to fiat versus stablecoin settlement). For international ecommerce, the pitch is faster settlement, reduced cross‑border friction and a path to serve customers who increasingly hold value in digital dollars. The practical acceptance hurdle will be integration and operations: merchants will want a single contract, predictable reconciliation, and clear policies on refunds and FX treatment at the point of sale. The proposition will land best where stablecoins reduce cost-to-serve versus cards, without creating a more complex customer experience or higher post-transaction overhead.

DIGITAL & eCOMMERCE

Klarna has launched an “Agentic Product Protocol”, positioning it as an open standard intended to make merchant product data instantly discoverable by AI shopping agents at scale (Klarna references “100M products”). While not a payments rail announcement, the acceptance implication is meaningful: if AI agents become a material source of traffic and conversion, merchants will need to expose cleaner, more structured product, price and availability data to avoid mismatches at the point of purchase (the fastest route to failed authorisations, cancellations and disputes). Klarna’s framing suggests it wants to sit upstream of checkout, shaping how “AI-to-merchant” commerce sessions are initiated and then converted into payable orders.

Rest of the World

ACCEPTANCE & PROCESSING

PayTabs Egypt has partnered with Edita to streamline payments and cash collection, signalling continued investment in acceptance tooling for high-volume FMCG distribution networks. Financial IT reports that the collaboration is designed to help Edita modernise how it collects and reconciles payments across its sales ecosystem, with PayTabs providing payment acceptance and collection capabilities aimed at reducing manual cash handling and improving settlement visibility. For the wider market, the partnership reflects a recurring acceptance challenge in MEA: heavy cash usage increases operational cost and fraud exposure, while digitisation requires robust onboarding, reconciliation and reporting—particularly across fragmented retail footprints. If PayTabs can digitise collection and acceptance across Edita’s distribution and retail network, the model is transferable to other cash-intensive sectors (consumer goods, field sales, wholesale) seeking to transition from cash-led processes to more automated, traceable payment flows without disrupting daily operations.

MOBILE MONEY/WALLETS

PayPal has outlined plans to expand in Africa through a cross‑border digital wallet platform scheduled for 2026, positioning the initiative within its “PayPal World” interoperability programme. PayPal World is intended to connect local digital wallets to international merchants via a PayPal checkout button, allowing consumers to pay globally using existing local wallets without opening a PayPal account. PayPal said it is in discussions with multiple African fintechs and highlighted the continent’s growth in financial inclusion and mobile money usage. From an acceptance perspective, the key point is reach: enabling large international merchants to accept local wallet payments without new hardware could help overcome low card penetration and fragmented infrastructure, while giving wallet operators access to cross-border merchant acceptance. The execution test will be pricing, integration depth, and whether refunds and disputes can be handled in a way merchants can operationalise at scale.